A message from Ragnar

When we first conceived of a sequel to Dreamfall, eight years ago, it was as an episodic game: divided into chapters, we named it…Dreamfall Chapters.

(We're nothing if not staggeringly inventive.)

Returning to the drawing board in October 2012, the first thing we did was abandon the episodic format — partly because we didn’t yet know the scope of what we were making, and partly because that's how we've always made games.

We did keep the 'Chapters' name: despite changes to the business model, the game’s structure and themes remained unchanged.

The creative process is unpredictable, however, and the story we’re telling has turned out to be bigger and more ambitious than first envisioned. We’re not on track to meet the release date we estimated a year and a half ago, and we've had to take a long, hard look at our schedule and budget.

After much internal debate and careful consideration, we’ve decided to return to the episodic format.

This autumn, Red Thread Games will release Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn — the first of five episodes — on PC, Mac and Linux.

Kickstarter and PayPal backers will receive all five episodes free of charge as they're released. New customers will be able to purchase a season pass via Steam, GOG and the Humble Store.

We could have made deep cuts, removed a lot of the characters, story-lines and locations — but we would have ended up with a different game than the one that's played inside our heads for the better part of a decade, a different game than the one we've promised our backers. We would have lost much of the magic and narrative depth. And we would've still had to delay our release into next year.

We’ve also realised that while, as a small studio, we are capable of producing a massively ambitious game like Dreamfall Chapters, we’re not satisfied with our ability to properly finish, polish and bug fix the whole game in one go. The amount of work that goes into every chapter of every book is enormous, and we do not want to compromise on the quality of our game and our story.

By releasing Book One this autumn, we hope to start generating income, all of which will go right back into improving the quality and scope of subsequent books. And by dividing our work into five standalone releases, we’re able to give each book the focus, polish and attention it needs.

This will benefit the game in terms of quality and stability, and it will benefit the team in terms of how many balls they need to juggle at once.

We initially debated splitting the game in two, like other recently Kickstarted adventure titles. This would have meant a much longer wait between halves, however. And since our story is already divided into five books, this felt like the natural way to break it up. The shorter wait between books will also, we hope, be easier to endure.

This is not going to change the game's story. The five Books will tell the story we always intended to tell; a story that concludes the Dreamer Cycle and Zoë Castillo’s role in The Longest Journey saga...but not the saga itself. (Yep, there's more to come.)

As a team, we believe we’re making the right choice — organisationally, financially and creatively. As writers, storytellers and artists we get to work in a format we love. And with every release, we will gather your feedback and improve on subsequent releases. In return, you’ll be getting a bigger, longer, more ambitious and more polished game.

Of course, we never like breaking promises or letting our supporters down. This is why we've debated this decision for several months, and why we’re informing you, our backers, first.

For those of you disappointed or skeptical: we understand and we apologise. We hope and trust you’ll be convinced — or at least considerably less skeptical! — once Book One releases this autumn.

We will announce the release date for Book Two soon after the release of Book One, and we will work very hard to keep the wait between books as brief as possible. Book Two is already in alpha, and Book Three isn’t far behind.

We know most of you have waited long enough for the conclusion of Zoë’s story — at least now we’re getting started on that conclusion sooner rather than later: Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn will be coming out before our originally announced November date.

Thanks as always for your support, patience and patronage. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on this past year and a half — and in a few short months, we will!

FAQ

Absolutely! We will deliver on all of our promises (even if some dates will change).

Certain physical rewards — like the boxes and accompanying materials — will not be sent out until all five books have been finished, in order to avoid shipping an incomplete game.

We don't yet have a date for when Book Five will be available.

How long will each book be?

We try to avoid playtime estimates. We don’t feel game length and playing time have much to do with quality and fun factor. But each book will be several hours long, and the full game will definitely be longer than initially estimated.

When will each book be available?

Book One is coming out this autumn.

We don’t know yet how long the wait will be between subsequent books — that depends on a complex mix of content, code, quality and bugs — but we’re planning an aggressive release schedule.

Won’t story and pace be affected by the episodic release schedule?

Since the story was designed for episodes, in-game time already passes between each book — sometimes weeks, sometimes months — and the story won’t feel any more fragmented than originally intended. Each book also has its own, self-contained arc, with a beginning, middle and end.

Couldn’t you have gone to a publisher for additional funding?

When we founded Red Thread Games and went to Kickstarter with Dreamfall Chapters, it was because we wanted to make OUR game, without any compromises...and without a publisher. Publishers want a game that’s as mass market as possible. We do believe there’s a huge market for Dreamfall Chapters, but it’s also a mature, story-driven adventure game; a niche that doesn’t necessarily appeal to everyone.

In order to preserve our vision and tell our story, we want to fund and publish this game ourselves, with your help and support.

How does this affect plans for The Longest Journey Home?

The Longest Journey Home — a point-and-click sequel to The Longest Journey — is still on our roadmap, and it’s a game we’d love to make. It all depends on how well Dreamfall Chapters sells: if we exceed our initial sales targets, we hope to begin preproduction on TLJH in the second half of next year.

What about Draugen?

Draugen has a separate budget from Dreamfall Chapters, and the two games don’t share any production resources. We’re still in preproduction on Draugen, and we hope to release it some time next year. This might change, of course.

Comments

If you are fine with delays but not episodic content, just wait to they release the full game and take it as a delay...

You keep saying that we gave them double the money they initially asked for and it wasn't enough... It wasn't enough because all the extra money was used to improve the game through stretch goals.

obviously one or more of the estimates they made were incorrect, causing delays or budget shortage. Instead of cutting features promised to us in stretch goals, they decided to return to delay the final release, piecemealing individual episodes for us so we don't have to wait so long.

If you feel like you have been robbed, that's your prerogative. Just remember Kickstarter isn't for investing or purchasing of goods, it's to contribute to something being made. There's no guarantees. Says so everywhere on this site.

I don't know how much you contributed, and if you were one of the high end guys I'm really sorry that you didn't understand how kickstarter works, but in the end, you will get all of your rewards. Just a little later than expected

You should update the FAQ on the main page, where it still says, it won't be an episodic title.
Also, I absolutely approve of your decision. If you feel, that episodic releases are the best way to go about developing the game, then why shouldn't you do it that way? After all, it is the story you wanted to tell - and that we wanted to here - for 8 years.

Normally I'm just a reader of updates, but I just wanted to post my support on this one! I'm all for whatever is necessary to tell the story (the *best* story) to completion. I trust in these guys to do so, I mean they're pretty good with the stories. I applaud the regular release of content packed updates, and their transparency and frankness with us backers. Anyways, I'm still excited, and I know you all will keep giving us stuff to stay excited about while we wait!

I agree that the wait will be tough between chapters.. But I know unlike Telltale who I'm seeing mentioned in some comments, redthread will no doubt give us plenty to mull over in the inbetween. And I look forward to replaying the game in its entirety upon its completion. Surely there will be some deeper understanding of the story that will come with the foreknowledge of previous books. Anyhoo, thanks guys! Can't wait for anything and everything.

@Red Thread
I'll give you credit for a quick, direct response. The fact remains that double the money you needed by your own estimates was obtained. You have employees, every company does, the people funding you has to come first. (Why is responsibility to employees even mentioned, that is internal management is it not?) I've mentioned DoubleFine (and it was in joke in many news articles) . Many are trusting less to the initial promises: some are suspecting a Windows only release (I predict the Linux version I was expecting will come maybe one year after Windows/Mac if at all),

For Sales: Broken Sword did a split as well into 2 episodes, and the results were not great either by the backers, or the reviews that came after it. The reviews (And post-production sales) would have been better but the first episode left a less than stellar taste to adventure game reviewers finding it slow. Basically, it backfired. Poor content in a chapter of "The Wolf Among Us" (3rd I think) also made it's way known in reviews.

I believe it makes more sense to stay true to expectations than to lose the trust of backers for long term success individually and as an industry. Adventure gaming has a small enough audience as it is. Reason: It makes getting funds (and sales) that much harder if one acts otherwise. Many are seeing a pattern with multimillion dollar computer game campaigns on Kickstarter. And overall it's not great.The quality has not yet been great so far, and I've funded a number of them. (Best reception so far appears to be "The Tesla Effect" which was received as "pretty good" but not "great"). Morbius? (Ugh) .Others still pending (Shadowgate, for instance). All are managing (or managed) with delays (people have been pretty understanding if it's JUST delays. Your episodic approach could backfire with one poor review of any chapter whereas released together, can have weaker parts forgotten in light of an overall great story. Bad press is harder to erase from memory than good I find.

Publishing: Had the impression that another partner was involved but I probably have that confused with another project, such is the frequency product going different direction than initially promised. Surprise publishers being brought into the mix has been "interesting".

I understand some people's concern here; but do we really need to slip into panic mode and finger pointing? A little over a year ago Dreamfall was a 7 year old we'd pretty much given up hope of ever seeing a sequel to; and now we're a few months away from the first Chapter of an NEW game. I think we really need to see that as a win.

Also, unless you actually believe that RTS is actually trying to screw us over; I'm will to trust them on this. Things don't always work out the way you'd hoped. If Kickstarter wasn't involved here; the same issues might still come up and we'd never hear about it. And in the end we'd end up with a cancelled game; or a buggy game forced to market early by the publisher.

@Helena:
Yes I understand. I don't really like the episodic format either, especially since the wait between episodes is not really defined. And if, they probably will be delayed anyway (Telltale Games anyone?).
But their other options are for instance to delay the whole game (e.g. by one year) without additional income and maybe run out of money, and/or cut content and rush the development.
They should choose whatever is better for the game.

I'll probably wait for the whole game too and stay out of discussions about the game in the meantime. (I managed to do this with Sam&Max seasons, but then on the other hand couldn't resist playing ToMI episodes immediately)

I still wonder if the game could of just been delayed? Instead of chopped up... Well, I guess he is saying they are hoping to establish a revenue stream earlier on with the episodes. I'm not sure how practical that thinking is - I mean, we are the audience for the game and the thing is... we've already bought the game.

Thanks again for all your comments and feedback! We would suggest that anyone with more questions for Ragnar or the rest of the team join the ongoing discussion on our official forum -- see the link above, in the original message. It's a lot easier to keep track of everyone's comments there.

@The Evolutionary: What do you mean by publisher? Red Thread has no publisher. Or, well, Red Thread is both the developer and the publisher: we self-publish digitally and answer only to our fans and backers. And ourselves.

As for the rest of your comments, we're sorry you feel the way you do. We do not agree with this statement:

"...that a project may fail, that I can deal with. That the terms of delivery are altered at their convenience, I am not cool with that. There is a difference between failure and changing the rules of the game, and when it's my money, I expect the attempt to be made and the project to be delivered as I was promised."

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

As a company, we have a responsibility both towards our employees and our backers to finish what we started, and that's what we're doing. By changing to an episodic model, we're reducing the risk and, hopefully, increasing quality.

A company that forges ahead regardless, and fails, because they can't make changes? Well, that doesn't sound like a very good company.

@chabuhi: Draugen has no impact on Dreamfall Chapters...but you knew we'd say that!

Draugen is in early pre-production, shares no resources with Chapters, and has a completely separate budget. We are actually legally obliged to keep the budgets separate and, yes, people do check.

The reason we got Draugen started was to have another project for team members to jump onto once they're finished on Dreamfall Chapters. We have a lot of full-time employees, and we can't afford to let anyone idle. We plan ahead -- most of the time at least one year ahead -- and Draugen is part of our longterm plans.

Once the end of the year rolls around, several resources will be freed up: illustrators, programmers and writers will start to run out of things to do on Chapters, and will be transferred to other projects, including Draugen.

This is how we run our studio, in order to be able to have full-time employees and not just freelancers or contract workers. We prefer to have a stable, experienced team that can work together on multiple projects over many years.

We recommend everyone who has specific questions for Ragnar or the other developers to hop on over to our official forum, since it's a lot easier to keep track of things and address your concerns there: http://redthreadgames.com/forum

But in answer to SOME of your questions:

* Draugen is still in early pre-production and doesn't interfere with Dreamfall Chapters in any way (but you knew we'd say that). Draugen also has a separate (and much, much smaller) budget from Chapters, and we are legally obliged to keep those budgets separate. (Yes, people check.) It's important for us to have another game ready to roll as soon as we free up resources on Chapters, and once the end of this year rolls around, some resources will be freed up: concept artists, writers and programmers will have less to do on Chapters. We can't afford to have any idle resources, and so we make sure we have another project ready to roll as soon as possible.

* Some Kickstarter projects have delayed their release up to a year instead of splitting the game. Some have released paid betas in order to raise more money. Some have made cuts or sacrificed polish and stability. Neither of these were really an option for us, for reasons clearly outlined in the message above. And as a team we felt it was better to release something this autumn, instead of delaying the game until next year or making massive cuts. Neither option is ideal, of course, but games do get delayed. All the time. And we felt this was the lesser of two evils.

@Giorgos The problem is, the more the rules change, the less the product typically reflects what was planned in the first place. Red Thread is using a popular model that makes a product more expensive and in many cases lower quality (see review of several adventure games using this model like "The Wolf Among Us" among others). Fact is they got DOUBLE the money they SAID they needed. Plus they are doing pre-orders (who doesn't these days). Pardon the pun, but when the rules change you have a different game. Any many here have expressed the same concerns: What's next? If the game changes from what we were expecting, it worse than failure in a way: We'd have helped created something worse/different than the print. Trust is everything in this business, and truth is, this news diminishes it significantly, plus a publisher, who IS an investor gets to call shots using our money, possibly to our detriment. Publishers tend to alter/ruin artistic vision/promise. There were better ways to handle this. And given they had double the money they required, this IS a surprise. DoubleFine started a very bad trend here: Give us more than we want, and we can't do what we promised because we got carried away. Backers should be rewarded for giving more than asked for, not penalized. As I said before, perhaps we should all trim our budgets and enthusiasm a bit or reserve it for those who have a proven track record of being true to the backers rather than compromising/making deals with external publishers after getting their money.

I'm not going to change your mind but you say: "there is a difference between failure and changing the rules of the game". Yes, you know what that difference is? In the first case you just lost your money, in the 2nd you *may* get inconvenienced a little but you'll get what you paid for. Also, in this case the "changing of the rules" happens precicesly in order to *avoid* that failure. You don't have to like it of course, but between non-delivery and a *different* delivery (that isn't even necessary worse, it just *could* be worse) I know what I would choose.

Something else that occurs to me: The label: Backers is interesting: Take money, interest free and do whatever you want with it. All sorts of people saying "it is not certain". Well, that a project may fail, that I can deal with. That the terms of delivery are altered at their convenience, I am not cool with that. There is a difference between failure and changing the rules of the game, and when it's my money, I expect the attempt to be made and the project to be delivered as I was promised.
Kickstarter staff seem to be content to just let this kind of thing go on unchecked as long as they get their profit share. If the terms on which THEY got paid changed, they'd throw a fit. Since we pay them, how are we worth less? I've been on the "easy-going" side of the fence, but my time there is done. This is the 3rd project I've seen do a "switch" almost a year later. And it's gotten some pretty negative response. As I Said before, I'll be doing less of the crowdfunding unless I'm sure that people who do the project are people of their word. That said, the people doing Wasteland 2 have done a great job of that it looks like. But Fargo has a good rep for being true to the project. Lesson learned, I'm not on board their next project. I'll wait until Red Thread actually produce a final product before I give them a penny again. They all go a on a special sale within 6-18 months anyway. ;-) If people think I'm being bitter, I am. This kind of thing at the expense of the backers whose money they take without hesitation is disrespectful and those of you who think it's okay, please don't belittle the rest of us who believe we should get what we pay for, on the terms we were promised. Delays are understandable, changing the rules after taking people's money is not.

Sorry, this is a classic example of "say one thing, do another". We all paid for a COMPLETE game. Had this been announced at the beginning, I would have said, "okay" and not put down my money. I suspect they knew that. This splitting up and making us wait to increase profits is not cool. I'm definitely holding back my money in future projects unless they say IN WRITING they will release a COMPLETE game. DoubleFine pulled a similar stunt and this form of misleading backers is becoming a standard practice. Time to pull back, and the people at Kickstarter need to be looking after this too, least they spoil their profits, which is clear at the moment, they don't care unless money decreases...which would send a message that would get the Kickstarter to enforce stricter standards.

I'm disappointed in the switch back to episodes- As I like to enjoy my games in a natural story arc, and I really think putting something into "episodes" forces an arbitrary and unnatural pacing on to the game. I'm curious how others feel, but I would of much rather Red Thread just delayed the game until it was ready as a whole.
What do you guys think?

I personally would have preferred the game to either be delayed a few months, maybe a year (just like 99% of games financed on KS are delayed), or split into two parts, like Broken Sword and Broken Age.

Also concerned that RTG's involvement in Draugen may have had an adverse impact on DFC's development. I'm sure that will be denied (perhaps already has been) but it's hard not to think that might have been a misstep in this whole thing.

I'm rooting for RTG to succeed but I can't help but worry about seeing DFC completed in either structure.

tl;dr - Worried that episodic model is hard to sustain for both devs and consumers regardless the financials (e.g. - Valve and HL2:Ep3). We are "patrons" not "investors", but it's ok to be critical.

I'm not so concerned about episodic vs. one-complete-package, but this does raise concerns about RTG's ability to manage this project successfully. From the outside looking in, many of use view the devs as highly experienced professionals who have delivered satisfying gaming experiences to us in the past. It worries me that people with such long and broad experience could have misjudged so badly. I worry that RTG will not be able to sustain themselves through the completion of all five books. I've seen too many episodic games fade away to be encouraged by this reversal. And it does not necessarily have as much to do with budget as it does logistics. Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is the perfect example. Plenty of budget and resources for that one and yet, where is it? It is being turned into Half-Life 3? Okay, then where is that? I know that sounds entitled and all, and there's no shortage of amusement to be found elsewhere, but I don't understand it when people try to shame the fans for being disappointed. There's nothing wrong with (or incorrect about) being disappointed under such circumstances. No, we are not "entitled" to games. Yes, life goes on, and quite easily for most of us. On the scale of earth-shattering events, this is a hiccup at worst. But I think it's unfair for anyone to try to scold a fan for being disappointed and expressing that disappointment. The devs absolutely do not need you to come to their defense. They are adults, they can take the criticism. You don't need to protect them.

Look, contrary to popular belief, Kickstarter backers are patrons NOT investors (at least, not in the traditional sense). We don't have "skin in the game" here. We have no right to make demands, though we have every right to express our wishes and share our opinions (good or bad). So as much as the "Be respectful and considerate" rule applies to those who are criticizing the devs, it ALSO applies to those who would be critical of those critics.

(lol, posted unfinished)
There is no option of just delaying without cutting a lot of content, which would be the true "butchering". You may disagree of course that those are the only two options, and you have every right to personally hate episodic distribution, but it was a very calculated choice made by the people that most likely CARE THE MOST about this game (because it's not only their "baby" but also their livelihood, and determines their future) unlike you and me.

That is a false dichotomy, Sultan. According to Ragnar the choices were:
a) Delay *and* truly "butcher" the game ( = cut a lot of content, release with more bugs/less polish)
b) Go episodic and retain both the greater scope and the quality that they want to achieve.
There is no option
So, the "butchering"

@ Martin: Missing out on discussions about the game, for a start? By the time I get around to playing it, the bulk of the plot, locations etc. will be old news to other backers. I realise this is my choice, but the point is that I'm now faced with two unpleasant choices: to play the game in a format I won't enjoy, or to wait until months after most other backers have played it. Of the two, I prefer the latter, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

@Helena:
One advantage of episodic format is, that you can decide if you want to play the episodes as soon as possible or want to wait until the game is complete (and prove will power)!
Of course possible spoilers could be a problem but otherwise: why do you care if others played episodes before you?

So yeah. The comments keep rolling in repeating the same old false assumptions. If you go to the RedThread site forum, Ragnar himself actually gives some pretty lengthy responses to allay those concerns.

But it doesn't seem to matter. People keep repeating over and over again the same assumptions. ("What if the first book doesn't sell well? Then we won't see the rest of the game!") And then Ragnar repeats himself that no, that is not the case. That the game will be completed regardless of such a worst case scenario (although more income would certainly help to make the game as grand as they want it to be). ... And then people say the same thing again, almost as if they never read (or didn't want to read) Ragnar's detailed and frank addressing of those concerns. "What if the first episode doesn't sell well? Huh? What then? Huh? Huh?" ... And then Ragnar repeats himself.

I'm in agreement with Raiden & others - first reaction was somewhat negative, but after reading everything and upon reflection, I'm fine with this.

To me, it appears that the choices were basically 'go episodic' or 'cut a large chunk out of the proposed story' (to over-simplify the above explanation). I would therefore rather have more content, a more complete and fleshed-out story, and have it be episodic in nature. The final verdict will, in my case, be rendered on the entire, complete game - if it is complete, well-executed, and enjoyable, then I will be happy.

Other Kickstarters I've been involved with have faced a similar decision, and basically either choice has drawbacks; there is no decision that will make everyone happy. I feel this choice has the best chance of producing a game I will enjoy playing, once all the chapters are finished.

Totally fine with me. I'd much rather get the complete story the way you envisioned it than a cut down, rushed out the door story. Getting playable content sooner is the cherry on top for me. Can't wait to play the first chapter! :)

'Disappointed and skeptical' pretty much sums it up for me. I don't want to play the game in bits, or to download it (hence why I pledged for a physical copy) - which means that other backers will have played through most of the game before I've even started it. I wish I could say "go ahead, I don't mind" like many other people here, but I do mind, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

Very disappointing. 1,5 Mio Dollars for a episodic Dreamfall that will generate more money by each episode? I can't understand this and for someone who spend a lot of money for a retail/physical box, this news are disapointing. :-(

Hm. You've doubled your initial goal of $850k and still won't be able to produce the full game with this budget? Looks like if you've exceeded your initial game scope as well. I don't like episodic games, but I'm still looking forward to DFC. Won't play it until all episodes have been released, though. I don't like cliff-hangers. And, please, make sure that you will at least be able to release all 5 episodes in the end.

I guess there's not much to do then than to wait (and for some of us, be more cautious in future over-ambitious Kickstarters). In a few months hopefully we will find out how self-contained these "books" will be and how much we'll have to wait between the episodes.

Exactly. I assume this to be a remnant of the very first conception of DF: Chapters more than 6 years ago (where it was to be episodic) but, according to Ragnar, it seems that the story is neatly split in 5 Books (which now will become the 5 episodes) that each have their own arc with a begginning, middle and end, *in addition* to the greater story that is weaved throughout the whole game. Also, he said that each of the 5 Books takes place in the span of a few days and there is a narrative gap of a few months between them (in-universe), which could be a nice parallel with the real-world time gap between each episode.

@ShadowNate: Ragnar adressed the question of splitting it into two or five or whatever parts in the update:

"We initially debated splitting the game in two, like other recently Kickstarted adventure titles. This would have meant a much longer wait between halves, however. And since our story is already divided into five books, this felt like the natural way to break it up. The shorter wait between books will also, we hope, be easier to endure."

I am not opposed to the idea of episodic release in adventure games. In fact I believe that this release pattern allows for more iterations on the game's design, better processing of user feedback, and improvements on the gameplay (including bugfixes for early episodes).

However, I am puzzled by the decision to split a game which as far as we knew (/ were promised) was beign designed and developed as a single title, in five (5!) episodes. This seems like a rather weird partitioning (that among else, will surely prolong the development time by a quite a lot).

Most other kickstarter projects that I have in mind, when reaching this obstacle (making a larger game than originally intended, not enough funds), they split the content into 2 games (eg Broken Age, Broken Sword 5) which is more understandable.

In any case, good luck with the development, and don't leave us with Dreamfall-like cliffhangers ever again (not even in the episode's endings).

So.. Ok. We are going to get the game in five (Books) chapters, which makes the Dreamfall: Chapters game name make more sense, which is a good thing.

So we will get our games digitally? And/or Physically shipped to us and all these will fit into the Physical box we will get at the release of the 5th chapter? Yes? No?

So If I got this right, we who pledged for the physical stuff will have to wait until all games are out? To say, get our Signed box, clothmap and things like that yes? So what about that USB stick with the game on it? 5 USB sticks? Or.. 1 USB stick after all chapters are out? This is the part that is a little perplexing.

Either way, I believe in this format you are making, Episodic, since this was the original idea from way back anyway. Still this draws more comparitive lines to how Telltale Games makes their adventures, still DC:TLJ will still look an feel different and be its own thing. It is just interesting how things turn out.

Also the latest art we have seen is really good. I'm a sucker for good art.

So.. I'm with you on all changes except for when/how/if we will get our physical rewards is all. Very positive, but a tad worried is all. In the end the game/s we are getting will be even more packed with TLJ goodness so I believe in the end you will do us justice RTG. So keep up the good work RTG! I wish you and your families good health and fortune.

It is a shame that RTG made a mistake in thinking they could pull Dreamfall Chapters off without releasing by chapters, but even great teams definitely do make mistakes. I sympathize with the backers who plan to wait for the whole game and are worried about stumbling across unmarked spoilers, but there are a lot of people getting carried away with how this switch back to episodes proves the game might not get finished. RTG is a small fledgling company, so there was always a certain risk of bad things happening, but they do have experienced leadership who is committed to finishing if at all possible. Their evaluation that some additional income from episodes will reduce the risk seems quite reasonable; it's not like the money from the kickstarter has all disappeared and now per-episode profits are the only hope.

@Poppy: They're depending on those sales to make the game that they want to make, not the game itself. They have the funding to do that. They just want to do MORE! Which is awesome!

This move is simply to PREVENT a problem from happening later.

And I question your assertion that this will hurt the reception of the game. Was not TWD named game of the year by dozens of magazines and sites? You actually get MORE publicity with this format because you have multiple releases, and each will get their own press and praise.

Everyone here should go the to forum and read Ragnar's responses. He pretty much answers all the concerns that have been expressed here. He said they'll work on a FAQ and get that up too.

I think this is a mistake. I think that this decision will harm the critical reception of the game, and in turn that will affect sales. If you're depending on those sales to maintain development on the later books, then that concerns me greatly.

@Giorgos Chrysikopoulos: I agree very much with you. Dreamfall Chapters in episodes means that we will all receive a better game. The game will be significantly better than I thought when I decided to back the campaign. This is good news to me.

By the way, I do realize that Tim Schafer did fulfill on the KS, I'm just not very enthused on the manner in which he did it, which makes me glad I didn't contribute to the campaign. I was not trying to imply he failed to deliver.

@Stephen
Kickstarters are *ALWAYS* uncertain.
Let me repeat that again.
Kickstarters are *ALWAYS* uncertain.
The fact of the matter is, that there is never a guarantee that the final project will come to fruition. It's always a risk pledging towards any project, even with high profile, trusted names.
*cough*Tim Schafer*cough*
Sorry, had something in my throat. I trust RTG and Ragnar, and while I'm not particularly pleased with this development, I'm willing to grant them the benefit of the doubt. Even if I wasn't, however, I have no right to tell them how to run their business, no matter if I pledged $20 or $20,000. We are not investors, we are backers. It's important to remember that distinction.

@Stephen Robertson (and others): what you fail to realize is that things aren't always "black and white", "yes or no", but there is a sliding scale instead. In this occasion, it's not "either they have the money to finish or they don't", it's more like "the more money they have the more *polished* content they can produce". RTG claim (and have no reason to lie) that they *do* have enough money to finish the game, all 5 Chapters of it. However, they believe they can do even *better* than just "finish the game", if they can acquire even more revenue [and this improvement is for *our* benefit as well, since we can get something better without paying anything extra!]. So they go episodic in an attempt to achieve that "better" result. If Chapters sells remarkably poorly (which it won't), they'll just abandon that "dream" and deliver exactly what their current funding allows them. But wouldn't that be a shame? Don't *you* want the best Dreamfall game that can exist? I know I do.

I'm very concerned about why this very significant change to the manner in which this game is to be delivered is necessary. You say:
"By releasing Book One this autumn, we hope to start generating income..." with the obvious implication that if sales do not generate enough income then chapters 2 - 5 will never be completed. Perhaps never even begun.

For all of you who say you completely trust Ragnar and company, that's great, but do you also trust that they'll make enough money to complete this now 5 chapter project?

Kickstarter exists to provide the developer with a fixed budget and therefore the certainty that they can complete their project, and in exchange the backers have the certainty that they will receive the completed, promised, project.

Now Red Thread has totally changed the relationship between backer and developer, to their benefit. They have removed the certainty in the backer/developer relationship. We may, or may not, get the completed 5 chapter project depending on future, unpredictable, sales numbers. But if the market doesn't support the development of all 5 chapters, Red Thread still keeps our money. Tony Sopranao would be impressed with a scheme like that.

I'm sure Red Thread is sincere in their promises of delivering all 5 chapters, but they have no right to fundamentally change the backer/developer relationship to permit sales numbers to determine if they will complete their end of the bargain and deliver a COMPLETED game to their backers.

I would not have backed this project if I had known that over 1 year later Red Thread would be saying to me "guess what, you're going to be a venture capitalist, whether you like it or not".